Thanks, Mom

It's Mothers Day. Time to pay tribute to all the moms in our lives. Certainly our own, without whom, none of us would be here. But countless others too...even those who have no children of their own, but who influence the lives of so many.

Motherhood is about patience, sacrifice, exploration, temperance, enthusiasm, perseverance, exhaustion, courage, faith, laughter, pain, endurance, and a million other things. But most of all, motherhood is about love.

Happy Mothers Day to any and all who have ever loved a child.

Black Friday...No Way!!

My husband's phone rang this morning before the first morning light began to creep in. It sounded like the alarm clock...but I knew that, with no intentions of having anything to do with the shopping frenzy that is Black Friday, neither of us had set an alarm.

I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I do believe that Black Friday was conceived in the hearts of conspiring men with evil designs... intended to get people to spend money they don't have on things they don't need. Black Friday has nothing to do with the true spirit of Christmas or with helping people save money. As one columnist noted this morning, it has everything to do with helping retailers take their books from red to black before the end of the year. To me, it's one of the worst things about the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday season.

But enough about that, the phone did ring...and for a much higher purpose! It was to let us know that Jett Emerson S., my husband's first grandchild, had arrived! Yay, so exciting!! What a beautiful little man he is. His mom is totally smitten (and us, too, of course). Both the baby and his mommy are doing just fine.

Nope, no Black Friday for us! We've got much more important things to think about. Just one more reason to be extremely grateful, don't you think?

Oh, and by the way, no photos of Jett's papa cuz he went home to get some much needed sleep. But don't you worry, there'll be plenty of photos of the whole family coming soon!

Kiss Kiss!!

 

Thanksgiving Day

Some families have holiday traditions that run deep. Not me, and not my family. I'm the first-generation American child of German Jewish parents who left Germany in the early 1930's, made a stop in Palestine for the next fifteen or so years and then came to America.

We never really celebrated the traditional American holidays. I think my parents were just busy trying to make a good life here and never quite figured out all the holiday-ish things. Plus, with their Jewish roots, it just wasn't the thing to celebrate anything other than Jewish holidays, no matter if they were secular or religious.

And so you have it. From year to year as an adult, I've always just done whatever was the thing to do that year, depending on what was going on in my life.

My daughter, son-in-law and grands are with their familiars. My husband's kids were with their mom. The hubby and I had a "traditional" dinner with my sister-in-law and her family. It was low-key and friendly, relaxed and warm. The food was de-LISH and abundant. The in-laws are wonderful ... I'm thankful that they've made me a part of their family.

I'm thankful for a lot of things. But tonight I'm most thankful that we had dinner with my mother-in-law, who has not been feeling so well. For the first time in weeks, though, she really seemed to be rallying and rediscovering her joy for life.

Life is good and I'm loving it...and with a very full and happy belly too!

It's a holiday break over at Alphabe-Thursday, but I'm linking with my holiday non-traditions! Happy Thanksgiving to all. 

Take a Little Trip

I suppose in some people's minds what constitutes family is genetic makeup or those who are connected to you by marriage. But sometimes family comes about in other ways, like when you just decide that the word "friends" doesn't adequately describe the relationship.  

Yesterday we took a little trip to visit some of my family...the I'm-adopting-you-whether-you-like-it-or-not kind of family. I had a blast shooting their "portraits". These are some of my faves, not necessarily the ones THEY would have picked. But I think they show who they are and why I love these crazy people.

What was the occasion? One of their sons just returned from serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and this was the first time the whole family had been together in the two years of his absence. Lots of changes had taken place.

It was a pretty chilly day, so the first order of business was to find a location to shoot...thirteen people, including babies.

A bed and breakfast spot was nice, but didn't feel quite right. 

How about an old train? Why not?! Out of the wind, nice soft light, fun for the kids (old and young), perfect.

And of course I couldn't resist shooting this little gem, found next to the train...

Once we finished at the train, everyone was eager to get back to the house for the feast that our returned missionary, and soon-to-be-discovered chef, was preparing for us...and a feast it was! Yummy!! 

Meanwhile, though, there was lots of activity in and around the kitchen and more photos to be taken...

And where are the photos of the "matriarch" to this brood? Ha, sorry, she was busy doing what moms do...making sure everything was ready for dinner...sorry I missed getting more photos of her. But I did manage to get a shot of the family "patriarch" with his friend, Mu'ammar (Tony) CurtAffi...that guy's not included in the people I call family, by the way.